After The Storm
by Alpacca Joe
Summary: A bottle of rum, the Pearl, and thee." Jack sat at the table in his cabin, staring disconsolately down at the charts and maps spread out before him but not truly seeing them. His fathomless eyes focused on the past, dark and turbulent as the roiling sea.


Disclaimer: I have as much claim to Pirates as to the crashing waves.

After The Storm  
_Swan's Song_

A Pirates of the Caribbean Fanfic  
by Alpacca Joe

"A bottle of rum, the _Pearl_, and thee."

Jack sat at the table in his cabin, staring disconsolately down at the charts and maps spread out before him but not truly seeing them. His fathomless eyes focused on the past, dark and turbulent as the roiling sea.

He was there again, on the deck of the _Pearl_ as it raced around the maelstrom, rain pelting down on the deck with the clamor of cannon fire. Two armies clashed, whirling within the chaos of a desperate war. Will and Elizabeth whirled and slashed, thrust and parried, rolling through the devastation as though in a dance, moving from skirmish to skirmish as if changing partners during a long, un-orchestrated waltz. Barbossa, long-winded but formidable, crashed through his opponents with ease. Dividing his attention between the two, Barbossa wed the dueling lovers as he cut through the upper deck, laughing into the face of death.

Newly wedded bliss was short lived for the couple; Davy Jones called Jack's bluff and Will's life was spilt to the Pearl's stained deck. Elizabeth's cries unanswered, her husband's eyes slipped closed. An anguished cry tore into the sky and joined the wailing of the maelstrom; steel in hand, Elizabeth Turner, King of the Pirate Brethren turned on the Captain Davy Jones. Will's blood dripped from the blade he had forged for James Norrington's coronation, and was thrown airborne, vermillion pearls tumbling through the gale as Elizabeth's cutlass met and matched Jones in vengeful fury.

In contrast to her previous performance, Elizabeth hacked and chopped at her adversary, despair and rage having robbed her of skill, stripped her of the grace that made her so surprisingly deadly. Tears mingled with sweat and rain on her cheeks, grunts and gasps tempered by desperate screams. In one truly inspired moment, Jones's sword hand was severed and blazing triumph lit Elizabeth's honeyed eyes-- she had just seen Jack plunge the remnant of his sword through Jones's heart when a musket ball burst her own. Her eyes grew wide, and she began to fall.

The _Dutchman's_ crew pulled their new captain aboard, Bootstrap Bill using the knife he had given Will to cut out his son's heart. Jack held the girl to him, one calloused hand pressed to the gushing hole in her chest in vain effort to stem the flow. She shook like a leaf in a tempest, but her eyes were steady. They stayed on Jack's, held his gaze as tears trickled into her hair. The rain had stopped, gone with the maelstrom when Davy Jones's body fell into the sea to be claimed by his Calypso. Elizabeth swallowed painfully, breaths coming in ragged gasps. Blood pooled on the deck where the privateer's bullet tore through her body and in her eyes, those honey-dipped brown eyes that had haunted Jack to death and back, was the sharp edge of pain. Her tiny hands clutched his shirt, occasionally clenching when a wave of pain broke over her. A grimy thumb brushed at the stream of moisture running down Elizabeth's creamy cheek, and something surfaced through the pain, an emotion that brought an unaccustomed wetness to Jack's own eyes.

_I'm sorry, Jack._ Carmine stained her rosy lips... she was slipping.

Jack shook his head; the trinkets tied into his hair rang like wind chimes, an unexpectedly lonely sound. The events which led to his death and her part in them had long been forgiven; yes, she had killed him. But she had also been the one to bring him back again. He cupped Elizabeth's cheek with a trembling hand and stroked her face tenderly. One of her small hands came up to rest upon his and her eyes closed. For a heart stopping moment Jack thought she had gone, then her lids parted and again she spoke. Her voice was thin and strained, much quieter than before.

_You saved... Will._ A small, heart wrenching smile lit her pale face. Jack returned it with a smile of his own, lopsided and heartbroken.

_But I couldn't save you, luv._ A tear fell, lighted on her lip and slipped down her chin. She lifted her free hand to his cheek and he bent to meet her. Petal soft lips brushed his ear as she whispered three words, then turned to meet his lips with hers.

The kiss was brief, gentle, thick with the taste of blood and the thin, melancholic tang of tears. And yet there existed a note of sweetness, a lightness reminiscent of a refreshing ocean breeze, the cry of a gull at sunset. The kiss broke, but Elizabeth's hand took gentle hold of a dreadlock and did not let go. Jack pressed his forehead to hers, chilled by the cool feel of her skin. She was almost gone. A wet chuckle trickled into the air between them.

_Pirate._ Elizabeth whispered, eyes alight with that mischievous glow that tugged at Jack's heart.

_Peas in a pod, Lizabeth._ She smiled, closed her eyes, and was gone.

For a long moment, Jack watched her face, knowing those eyes would not open again, but unable to abandon the hope. Then slowly she bent, pressed a kiss to her high brow and hugged her still form to him.

_Go easy, luv._ He breathed the words into her deaf ear, a prayer he hoped would reach her on whatever waters she now sailed. She had a family waiting for her... Jack knew she was at peace.

On the deck of the _Black Pearl_ with Elizabeth's cooling body in his arms, Jack's mind took him to that tiny island, to the beach where they had spent so many hours together waiting for rescue they did not truly believe would come. The rum had gotten to him near sunset, and with this girl beside him Jack, the infamous pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, had thrown an arm about her and waxed poetic.

_All the world a cage, luv.  
Wind blows a path to freedom,  
Waves offer liberation's shining key.  
I've cast off society's shackles,  
Arms thrown wide to embrace  
A bottle of rum, the Pearl, and thee._

Jack raised his bottle to toast the last, bloody line of light smeared across the horizon and took a long, deep drink. Elizabeth's head had dropped softly onto his shoulder and together, they had watched as diamonds claimed the night sky.

Captain Will Turner returned and together, the _Dutchman_ and the _Pearl_ took their revenge upon Cutler Beckett. Will took his wife's body and disappeared beneath the waves, and the pirates scattered again to the four winds. The war was won, the ocean theirs once more. But without Elizabeth there to celebrate, it seemed an empty victory.

It was now late afternoon. The bottle in Jack's hand was half empty, but he did not bring it to his lips. These days, it seemed, he had little taste for rum. A single tear trembled, hanging from a long black eyelash, then fell to splash onto one of the charts spread across the table. It hit a line and mixed with the ink, turned a shade of indigo as though perched upon the page was a pearl of the very sea. Through the open porthole drifted a breeze, scented delicately with flowers and sweet water. Jack breathed deeply of it, reminded of the scent of her hair. It wrapped tenderly around the Captain and seemed to whisper those words which haunted him day and night, and another tear fell.

_I couldn't save you, luv._

_You already have._

The rum bottle crashed to the floor, and Jack's head fell into his hands.

**End.**

No real explanation for this one, but I can say that while it was an impulse write and came to me pretty much full formed, I realized that I have not read any At World's End alternate ending fics where Elizabeth remains unpaired. It's either Liz/James, Liz/Jack, Liz/Will or some mixture of the three. I'm sure there must be another out there and if not, here's my rendition.

Hope you enjoyed, minna. C&C is as always welcome and appreciated. All flames will be used to roast the marshmallows.

Much Alpacca love, and later days. ^.~

1/11/09


End file.
